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Earlier this week, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) approved a $4.75 million project designed to expand the Port of Savannah’s refrigerated container storage capacity by 45 percent.

To be completed in September 2012, the project calls for installing 20 four-story steel-framed refrigerated container racks at a terminal container berth. The new racks will enable the port — which is served by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway — to accommodate 1,536 containers with a total of 64 racks vs. the 44 racks currently in service.

In fiscal-year 2011, which ended June 30, the port handled 1.6 billion pounds of containerized poultry exports, or nearly 40 percent of the nation’s total. In the past five years, the port’s refrigerated container volume has jumped 54 percent. About three-quarters of the volume is exported, primarily to Hong Kong, port officials said in a prepared statement.

“Improvements like these ensure Georgia’s role in global commerce as a gateway for American agricultural products,” said GPA Chairman Alec Poitevint.